Forza Horizon 4 seasons: Weekly changes and fresh content for all

By Richard Devine
published

Seasons are one of the core features of Forza Horizon 4, and now we know a little more about how they're going to work.

With Forza Horizon 4 being set in the UK, one of the big features is the changing climate. British weather is infamous, and Playground Games is capturing it in its entirety in its latest open-world racer with seasons.

As time passes, seasons change and with it the weather and the driving conditions. We've seen what most of them look like, but at Gamescom 2018 I got to hear some of the finer detail about how this core feature will behave.

Forza Horizon 4 seasons are the same for everyone

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Seasons in Forza Horizon 4 will change on a weekly basis. And they'll change for everyone playing the game at the exact same time, so whether you're playing solo or with your friends, everyone's having a similar experience.

Alongside this, every week new seasonal championships will be added to the game as part of Playground's commitment to post-launch content. And every race will be slightly different depending which season you're taking it on in.

The changing season and its corresponding weather will have a direct impact on the driving experience. Wet (deformable) mud and snow on the ground will provide a different challenge than a hot, summer day where the ground is hard and dry. Your driving style will alter to reflect the conditions.

And no two seasons will be exactly the same

Weekly Forzathon changes

Forza Horizon 4

Also changing weekly are the Forzathon challenges. Forzathon is employed in the current Forza releases, offering a constant stream of new challenges and rewards for completing them.

Forzathon is another avenue of post-launch content support that Forza Horizon 4 players will be able to enjoy, in a large open world that's going to keep drawing you back in. It's easily the most ambitious Horizon title yet, and if it all comes together it's shaping up to be a game worth playing for months and years to come.

Forza Horizon 4 is set to launch to everyone on October 2, 2018, for $60, with a four-day early access period beginning September 28 for Ultimate Edition buyers.

Richard Devine
Richard Devine
Managing Editor - Tech, Reviews

Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you'll find him steering the site's coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon at mstdn.social/@richdevine

18 Comments
  • That's a little disappointing. From the original announcement and trailers, it seemed you could be driving along a road and the weather changes dynamically from season, to season, and back to another season again.
    Will we find out that the servers get restarted and everyone has to re-login for the weather to sync with everyone too?
  • Didn't mention anything about servers during my session so I can't say either way. But a season is a pretty long time. Changing twice in the course of a couple of races is a bit much ;-)
  • Agree. Also, controlling season will be good for racing sims (Forza Motorsport) not for Forza Horizon. Forza Horizon is an Arcade Racing RPG. You should live in the world where season change.
  • They would have to set the game in Melbourne if they want season changes that often.
  • No, you don't have to re-login. They answered this in a live stream (I can't find the exact stream/time stamp). When the time comes the game will check your game status. If you are in the middle of the race then it won't change the season else it will play the season change animation and it will change the season.
  • What would make you happy then? A season change like every 5 minutes of driving? That seems ridiculous and very unrealistic.
  • I was hoping for dynamic weather changes as well (although not that frequently) but honestly, game systems are nowhere near powerful enough to handle that, yet.
  • I wonder what's going to happen in 3-4 years when Horizon 4 isn't the hot new thing and they want to bring their servers offline. Hope the game won't be orphaned.
  • Every game for Forza becomes EOL after 4 years. with the release of FH4, FH2 which came out 4 years ago is getting de-listed. but that is a very good point. this Forza is going to rely a lot more on the server, rather than being a stand-alone client base game. what will happen with those servers once the game goes EOL
  • This game can still function without network right? Maybe server controlled season becomes system time controlled season.
  • First of all, FH4 will still be fully playable offline, with Drivatars just like the previous games. The season change will then be determined by the system clock. Second, EOL doesn't mean the servers will be shut down. Even the Horizon 1 servers are still up, a game that was delisted 2 years ago.
  • That's annoying, especially with no way to manually override the seasons. I don't want to play in winter weather so I won't want to play the game for an entire week while I wait for it to change. That would be ridiculous. Sounds like I'll be sticking with FH3.
  • Report back to us after FH4 comes out. I'm sure you'll cave in.
  • Reporting back (because you asked): Still haven't purchased it. Though appears sales are doing just fine without me 🙂
  • Why don't you want to play in winter weather? That's a quarter of the game you are missing out on.
  • It just doesn't appeal to me. Winter is not fun to me, neither is sliding around on ice with little traction. It would be a quarter of the game that I wouldn't enjoy. Without a manual override I would not be able to enjoyably play for 7 consecutive days every 3 weeks. That is not a system I would want to pay $60 for.
  • Sounds like you're looking for an excuse not to buy it tbh
  • Actually, it was the other way around. I was trying to find an excuse that would justify buying it. So far I haven't found anything that's compelled me. In fact, I've found excuses to not buy it. This being one of them.